Lice

[Controlled Chaos]

2 weeks ago, I was alerted dkb's sister had lice but dcb had been checked and was lice free. I (stupidly) took mom's word for. I checked him myself during snack and found live lice. I sent dcb home, cleaned EVERYTHING, nit checked all dcks and brushed tea tree oil through their hair.

Child returned the following Monday. I nit checked at arrival, found nothing.
Child attended Wednesday. No nits.
Child attended Friday no nits found at drop off. Child scratched head after nap, I found a live lice. :confused:

The child has light colored, short hair. How did I miss the nit(s)????

I have been checking my kids hair everynight, combing through using coconut oil. I have washed EVERYTHING sheets, toys, clothes, carpet etc. No one else has gotten them.

He arrived today, shaved head. I combed through anyway (through the stubble). I had him wear a hat, I can wash, during free play just in case.

Suggestions? Am I doing something wrong?

[preschoolteacher]

No, you're doing great. You must have just missed that one. I'd ask them to keep his head buzzed until everything and everyone have been lice free for two weeks.

[Meyou]

Sounds like there are still live lice at their home that he brought in.

[Controlled Chaos]

Sounds like there are still live lice at their home that he brought in.

This is what I am afraid of. His parents are divorced with shared custody and he spends evenings at 2 different grandparents' homes so it is a lot of homes to get clean.

[jenboo]

Ugh lice is so hard to get rid of. My sister and I had it for a year off and on when we were little. Almost all of our belongings were bagged for that year

[KiddieCahoots]

No, you're doing great. You must have just missed that one. I'd ask them to keep his head buzzed until everything and everyone have been lice free for two weeks.

........
Had the same thing happen here with a dcb that had many siblings.
They just kept passing them back and forth for 2 months.
We did not get them.
But ended in termination, not all due to the lice, but because of dcm getting hostile to me for following the policy of having dcb excluded from the childcare until nit free.

[Josiegirl]

One of my dds got them when she was in 4th grade. Long hair almost to her waist. We battled those nasty lil critters for 6 weeks. I did everything! The OTC stuff, using a jar of real mayo covered with a shower cap(supposed to smother them, didn't seem to work but her hair was soooo beautiful!), hand picked nits every single night for about an hour, checking a few strands at a time. Washed, bagged, washed and bagged some more. No one else got them but it took 6 weeks to finally check her hair a few nights in a row without finding anything.
While they're battling lice, they may want to keep their child in just 1 home instead of passing lice to everybody. It would be a bit easier to treat.

[Controlled Chaos]

One of my dds got them when she was in 4th grade. Long hair almost to her waist. We battled those nasty lil critters for 6 weeks. I did everything! The OTC stuff, using a jar of real mayo covered with a shower cap(supposed to smother them, didn't seem to work but her hair was soooo beautiful!), hand picked nits every single night for about an hour, checking a few strands at a time. Washed, bagged, washed and bagged some more. No one else got them but it took 6 weeks to finally check her hair a few nights in a row without finding anything.
While they're battling lice, they may want to keep their child in just 1 home instead of passing lice to everybody. It would be a bit easier to treat.

That must have been exhausting. I am exhausted after just 2 weeks. My hair is sooo greasy after I used way to much treatment stuff on it. I have shampooed 3 times since and it is still greasy . I am hoping we can keep it at bay. I hope both parents are being diligent at home. I am sure grandpa isn't. He is nice but a little clueless.

Is it cruel to make him wear a hat for a few weeks? I don't want to shame the kid, but it would make me feel better.

[sly red cid]

Lice

Don't forget to have all the car seats treated too that's where they kept coming from one time here.

[Controlled Chaos]

Don't forget to have all the car seats treated too that's where they kept coming from one time here.

How do you treat the carseats. I was covering mine with a towel or sheet for 2 weeks, but wasn't sure how to clean them. I can put one of them through the wash, but maybe just vaccume the others?

[Unregistered]

If all the houses aren't being cleaned then they are just going to re - infest. I had a co-worker whose own child kept getting lice over and over. They would stay at Dads on the weekend. He didn't do anything to clean or get rid of them. She had to go to court after months to get him ordered to get a cleaning service to eradicate the lice. It took several cleanings before they were free and clear. It was a nightmare for her.

[Angelsj]

Light hair makes it easier to see the live (dark) critters, and dark hair makes the nits easier to locate.

Agreed with the others though. He will not get them gone completely until they clean ALL the houses, cars, carseats, etc...

[Unregistered]

The new type of resistent lice

Lice are now becoming resistent to the over the counter products being used.
If a single strand of hair is missed and a nit was there........
If you missed a spot of hair
Lice can crawl around and even hold there breath underwater

The best way to get rid of it is vigilance and persistance with combing, checking,

Sure the treatments will work if infested but if there is a reinfestation issue on the head

It is most likely due to treatment error

Lice cannot live long without a human host, they are not usually around the furniture or pillows in less a head is heavily infested and the person is laying on it all day long

Best bet is to throw linens in the dryer if they have been washed in the wash already if you are trying to conserve water/resources. My bill went up 25 % before I figured out the dryer did just fine after washing. For two weeks I would throw the linens in the dryer

If I found a head with lice I would treat and then vacuum and clean.

Write a to do list for your families

I had to send a family home 3 times in 3 weeks and I felt really bad but the mom could not see them. I almost thought I should run a lice business.

I gave the mom some homeopathic lice kit-I think it was called No Nits

Again you really have to comb every single day, or your going to be buying shampoos every week.

The most effective thing to do is comb/vaccuum/use your dryer/notify your parents

Never put tea tree oil in anyone's hair without permission, a child could get an allergic reaction.

Tea tree oil is effective and I douse my own hair with it because I wanted everything dead.

A gentler solution for children is the homeopathic no nits. I cant stress enough the burns that could occur to the scalp using tea tree oil.

Oils/ Mayo and suffocation

There is another solution I have not tried that uses Cetophil the lotion. Some doctor came up with it, but again it has a lot of rules and things you have to do.

It talks about drying the lotion to the strands with a blow dryer somehow to trap and suffocate the lice. But there is a lot of rules to it.....

If someone wants me to forward this I can but I have never tried it as I found that a couple treatments and then consistent combing/vac/drying works best....

[Angelsj]

The best method I found for actually doing kids' hair is to use olive oil to slow the live ones down and make the hair slick. Comb through with a good quality lice or flea comb, rinsing the comb between each swipe in VERY hot water.

Wash hair until you get the oil out, then douse in vinegar. (Be careful to not get this in eyes.) Vinegar loosens the glue the nits use to attach to hair. Again comb through and the nits should start to come out.

Do this every other day until you find nothing for at least a week. Often I find that the first treatment does it if you are careful, and no medications needed.

I also agree with throwing clean linens/pillows, etc into the dryer. Vacuum ALL the things.

[Josiegirl]

Not sure if these things have been mentioned but all your stuffed animals have to be bagged for awhile(can't remember now how long, having a brainless moment), you can bag up kids' outer wear separately so it doesn't touch, and I remember even bagging up my kids' earphones. If I wasn't sure, into the bag it went. I was so paranoid. Had to boil brushes and combs. Oh the fun.